1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,800 More than 100 years ago, American explorer, A.R. Wallace, wrote that he had discovered 2 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:11,320 tribal sculptures along the banks of the Columbia River. 3 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:16,120 Three enormous ape-like heads carved in basalt. 4 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,920 It was puzzling to Wallace, who knew that no primates had ever been discovered in North 5 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:20,920 America. 6 00:00:20,920 --> 00:00:23,120 How do you know what a giant ape looks like? 7 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:24,740 He asked the native artists. 8 00:00:24,740 --> 00:00:39,540 We know, they told Wallace, because we've seen them. 9 00:00:39,540 --> 00:00:44,760 This field recording is believed to be the warning call of Bigfoot. 10 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,360 While investigators have largely concentrated on retrieving physical and photographic proof 11 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:55,660 that the legendary creature is alive, audio recordings are now emerging as the best evidence. 12 00:00:55,660 --> 00:01:04,240 Most recently, this mysterious sound made headlines in Ohio. 13 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:08,420 It is quite different from the aggressive shriek recorded more than 20 years ago in 14 00:01:08,420 --> 00:01:10,420 the state of Washington. 15 00:01:10,420 --> 00:01:24,540 It's a very high-pitched screaming, blood-curdling, make your hair stand on edge-screen. 16 00:01:24,540 --> 00:01:30,140 The sound was recorded by Chottish Ketum Wich-Tellum, former police officer and elder of the Lummi 17 00:01:30,140 --> 00:01:33,860 tribe, which has a tradition of Sasquatch encounters. 18 00:01:33,860 --> 00:01:36,260 For them, the creature lives. 19 00:01:36,260 --> 00:01:42,900 Our old people like my grandmother tell us stories about Siatko, Samaquist. 20 00:01:42,900 --> 00:01:44,660 People call him Sasquatch. 21 00:01:44,660 --> 00:01:49,900 They tell us if we run across him, not to look into his eyes, because he can steal your 22 00:01:49,900 --> 00:01:51,500 spirit. 23 00:01:51,500 --> 00:01:54,300 These are the legends the old people talk about. 24 00:01:54,300 --> 00:02:01,100 In the American Indian tradition, all of the tribes of the coastal northwest have a common 25 00:02:01,100 --> 00:02:04,980 belief about Sasquatch or Bigfoot. 26 00:02:04,980 --> 00:02:11,220 James Swan is a naturalist and cultural historian who has studied the folklore of many tribes. 27 00:02:11,220 --> 00:02:15,180 Modern western culture jokes at Bigfoot. 28 00:02:15,180 --> 00:02:20,180 But in the Indian culture, Bigfoot is serious. 29 00:02:20,180 --> 00:02:26,340 This is a real being, a real creature with spiritual powers that lives in wild places. 30 00:02:26,340 --> 00:02:31,260 It's a guardian of sacred places, and it's not a joke at all. 31 00:02:31,260 --> 00:02:38,260 All these people that seen him, who had an accidental run-in with him, all got affected 32 00:02:38,260 --> 00:02:39,260 the same. 33 00:02:39,260 --> 00:02:42,260 They went into shock. 34 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:50,020 In 1974, I went to Duccompton in the evening about 6.15, 6.30. 35 00:02:50,020 --> 00:02:55,860 And I looked up, and this thing got out of the ditch, and I froze. 36 00:02:55,860 --> 00:02:59,460 And I got my knees start shaking, and that was Bigfoot. 37 00:02:59,460 --> 00:03:05,900 After that, I sold my guns, and I never did go out again, you know? 38 00:03:05,900 --> 00:03:11,140 In the Lummi Nation, the oral tradition of tribal lore is now being written down by elders 39 00:03:11,140 --> 00:03:13,300 and tribal police. 40 00:03:13,300 --> 00:03:19,700 This is how we know that 1974 and 75 were banner years for Sasquatch encounters. 41 00:03:19,700 --> 00:03:24,900 According to records, there were over 1,000 reported sightings during that period, and 42 00:03:24,900 --> 00:03:28,260 officer Chaudhish Ketum took down most of them. 43 00:03:28,260 --> 00:03:35,500 In 1975, I answered so many calls on him that people were making fun, saying that we 44 00:03:35,500 --> 00:03:39,260 were seeing things, and were smoking dope, that we were drinking or something. 45 00:03:39,260 --> 00:03:41,260 There was no such thing. 46 00:03:41,260 --> 00:03:46,860 And the more they taunted about it, the more I wanted to prove there was such a thing without 47 00:03:46,860 --> 00:03:47,860 killing him. 48 00:03:47,860 --> 00:03:51,060 I did not want to kill this animal. 49 00:03:51,060 --> 00:03:53,540 I wanted to prove that he existed. 50 00:03:53,540 --> 00:04:00,700 And on a chilly moonlit night in 1975, Chaudhish Ketum had his closest encounter of the beastly 51 00:04:00,700 --> 00:04:01,700 kind. 52 00:04:01,700 --> 00:04:04,420 It is an event burned in his memory. 53 00:04:04,420 --> 00:04:13,820 November 22, 1975, at 2 a.m., I received a parlor call at Emma Smith's residence on 54 00:04:13,820 --> 00:04:14,820 Scott Road. 55 00:04:14,820 --> 00:04:18,940 I was going north on Chief Martin Road, which is just off from the Scott Road. 56 00:04:18,940 --> 00:04:21,220 I could hear this screaming. 57 00:04:21,220 --> 00:04:23,460 I could see this thing running right toward my car. 58 00:04:23,460 --> 00:04:26,780 As it came into my bright light, I could see it was a sasquatch. 59 00:04:26,780 --> 00:04:30,900 He had his mouth wide open showing me all of his teeth. 60 00:04:30,900 --> 00:04:33,260 He was coming at me in an aggressive manner. 61 00:04:33,260 --> 00:04:38,380 His radio was on, and police dispatch recorded the moment the aggressive creature confronted 62 00:04:38,380 --> 00:04:45,820 the officer. 63 00:04:45,820 --> 00:04:50,580 Sightings asked Michael D., the mammal curator for the Los Angeles Zoo, to render an opinion 64 00:04:50,580 --> 00:04:58,340 on the alleged Bigfoot recording. 65 00:04:58,340 --> 00:05:01,900 I've heard it, and it's like nothing I've ever heard before. 66 00:05:01,900 --> 00:05:08,060 It's a noise, but whether or not an actual creature made that noise, that's, I can't 67 00:05:08,060 --> 00:05:09,220 determine that. 68 00:05:09,220 --> 00:05:13,580 It doesn't sound like anything that I am familiar with, and I certainly am familiar with almost 69 00:05:13,580 --> 00:05:24,580 all the mammals that are in North America and their calls. 70 00:05:24,580 --> 00:05:28,260 The source of this disturbing whale may never be known. 71 00:05:28,260 --> 00:05:33,700 No additional recordings have been made in the area since 1975, but those who have encountered 72 00:05:33,700 --> 00:05:37,340 the great primate know he will return. 73 00:05:37,340 --> 00:05:40,700 He looks so human. 74 00:05:40,700 --> 00:05:46,980 Their facial features are so much like our own. 75 00:05:46,980 --> 00:05:50,900 It's almost like you say, where did you come from? 76 00:05:50,900 --> 00:05:51,900 What are you? 77 00:05:51,900 --> 00:05:53,900 I want to talk to you. 78 00:05:53,900 --> 00:05:55,220 I want to communicate. 79 00:05:55,220 --> 00:06:03,300 There's not a doubt in my mind that sasquatch exists. 80 00:06:03,300 --> 00:06:07,900 The Lummies are not the only indigenous people who believe in the reality of Bigfoot. 81 00:06:07,900 --> 00:06:13,100 In fact, every single tribe in the coastal northwest from Alaska to California has a 82 00:06:13,100 --> 00:06:15,460 traditional belief in sasquatch.